The Two-Pound Tram

By William Newton

Book Overview

"Our dream, our obsession, was to own a tram. This all started with an advertisement which showed a picture of a London tram with the words: 'Trams surplus to the requirements of the London Omnibus... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582343748
• ISBN13: 9781582343747
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.4" x 0.7" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

A Beautiful story.

What a lovely heartfelt story of childhood and innocence. I could not put this little gem down until I had finished it. It's a joy to read a truly believable story of adventure, chasing a dream, and reaching it. Do not read this book without a box of tissues handy! Truly beautiful.

A Perfect Little Gem

This wonderfully understated book begs for a cover-to-cover non-stop read. Parental indifference and neglect result in great miracles. Fascinating characters hop on at every bend in the road. The rarest of butterflies flits by and a most dignified dog always takes the front seat. The King and Queen of England drop in and a well-meaning letter from Winston Churchill causes an uproar. Hopefully Mike Leigh has already read "The Two Pound Tram" and is working on obtaining funding for the film. Most memorable!

A captivating novel

Wilfred and his brother, Duncan, ignored by their parents, decide to pursue their dream to own a tram. The story starts in 1937 following the brothers' travels to London to buy a horse-drawn tram and then to Canterbury, where they find they have unwittingly but fortuitously attracted passengers from the local bus route. They finally arrive in Worthing where a wealthy Austrian benefactor enables them to buy the horse-less variety of tram, and find themselves caught up at the beginning of the Second World War defending the Sussex coastline in its hour of need from their tram-cum-lighthouse. Written without sentimentality, it is funny, moving and captivating.